Router Configurations
The most boss-like object in the network is the wireless router. For our purposes, we’ll presuppose that each computer can connect to the router. In our test network, the Vista desktop computer has the wired connection to the router and was used to set the router up. It’s very important that the router is not left at defaults and is set up properly because the security of the simplified network is based on the router and on having both a strong network password and an encrypted connection. By strong password, we mean a mix of letters and numbers that can’t be guessed or easily “cracked” by brute force. Your router setup program may suggest a pseudo-random password based on the encryption you selected. This is very safe to use. By encryption, we mean Wi-Fi Protected Access, or WPA-PSK. The “PSK” part stands for “pre-shared key,” which is that secure password.
Since setup varies and you’ll need to use the documentation for your router to perform it, we’ll only briefly touch further on this. You want to set it to broadcast your network name or service set identifier (SSID). You’ll want to make sure that each computer on the network can reach the Internet. A somewhat common problem you may encounter is that a PC can connect wirelessly to the router and seems to be passing some data when you view “Status” for the device, but the web browser can’t reach any web pages.
This can mean that the computer was set up by default for wireless networking(with Microsoft networks, of course), but not for Internet access. It is, however, easy to fix.
